July 10: Grand Canyon National Park (North Rim), AZ

We woke up freezing this morning, as usual, and made our way to the north rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Thankfully, we had made reservations for our campsite several days prior when we had WiFi because now the sites were all booked. There was also an extreme fire caution and no camp fires were allowed. Of course. We finally had firewood ready and had mastered the one match fire and our skills would go to waste. Actually, I was kind of glad because stinking of smoke and not being able to breath was getting a bit old.

So, we pitched camp once again and went off exploring. We opted for a trail hike down the canyon. They say that the Grand Canyon is one mile down and one mile up…what they don’t tell you is that the trail itself is like five to six miles each way. I was still a little worn out from yesterday’s hike at Mesa Verde, but I still wanted to press on. We decided that we would just find a certain stopping point to turn around at.

There are also horses and mules that go down the trail as people pay for an excursion down the canyon. Translation…lots of smelly spots complete with horse poo and wretched pools of urine…and don’t forget the hundreds of black flies at both…GROSS. The stench was nasty at times, but there wasn’t too much of it.

Okay, so back to the trail…it was beautiful and there was so much to take in. It was hard to concentrate on the trail and make sure to not walk over a cliff with so much beauty around. We passes a few exhausting families making trhe trek back and even encountered a park ranger who was hiking all the way to the Colorado River. Craziness. The trail to the canyon bottom was enough, but then it was another 11 miles to the actual river itself. Wow. Going down isn’t so bad, but what you have to remember is that the entire return route is uphill. I think we stopped about a mile and a half into the trail, maybe two, before we decided to head back. It was the right decision and every muscle in my legs got a thorough workout.

Back to camp we went before setting out on another short twilight hike to watch the sunset over the canyon. Beautiful.

Then, a seven minute shower that cost $2.00, some grub and bed time. The next morning we were heading to Mount Zion in Utah.